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The kottur-harihara broad-gauge line covering 60 kilometres was included in the 1995-96 budget, approved at an estimated expenditure of Rs 124.13 crore and a foundation was laid by the then union railway minister jaffer sharief.

Despite the completion of much awaited Kottur-Harihar line no operations have been started yet. The 67km route has been built at the cost of 350 crores. The department has been announcing the inauguration date since years. The line was built mainly for freight movement. If this line is opened for traffic, iron ore from bellary region, Jindal and other factory products, Ilakal granite etc. can be transported to Mangalore port. Also, petroleum products, palm oil, imported goods, fertilizers, salt and other products can be brought from Mangalore to Central part of Karnataka.

" The delay by the officers has been brought to the notice of MoSR Mr. K.H.Muniyappa in the recent meeting in Bengaluru. Depending on Railway Horata Samiti’s demand, pressure will be put on MoSR once again " – J Shanta, local MP.

Meanwhile some sources say that Mr. K. H. Muniyappa has agreed to start the operations temporarily from June 10th.

17 years have elapsed since work on laying new line began
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Passenger train services delayed for want of safety certificate

Cost of the project has increased enormously owing to inordinate delay
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DESERTED LOOK:The railway station at Kottur in Bellary district awaits introduction of train services.

BELLARY: It appears that the restoration of train services between Hospet and Kottur-Harihar may not happen in the near future.

The project has not been completed 17 years after work on the new line began. At present, only the Hospet-Kottur-Harihar line is ready with the railway authorities already having conducted a test run with a goods train. However, there are no signs of passenger train services being introduced on the line soon. The delay has disappointed the people of Hospet, Sandur, Hagari Bommanahalli and Harapanahalli taluks.

Work on other infrastructure facilities, including civil works in the railway station buildings, electrification and so on are in various stages of completion. According to sources, the authorities are awaiting the safety certificate from the Commissioner of Railway Safety to start passenger train services on this line.

As part of the uni-gauge system introduced during the term of C.K. Jaffer Sharief as Minister for Railways, passenger train services between Hospet and Kottur were stopped for conversion of the metre-gauge line to broad-gauge.

Mr. Sharief, who inaugurated the gauge conversion work in 1995, also laid the foundation stone for extending the line by 65 km from Kottur to Harihar in Davangere district.

The railway link between Kottur and Harihar was then considered essential because it would help develop the hinterland besides linking the east coast (Visakhapatnam) with west coast (Mangalore port). It was also expected to facilitate transportation of coal, iron ore, fertilizers and introduction of passenger trains towards Dakshina Kannada and Shimoga.

The original estimated cost of Rs. 65 crore for the 65-km stretch has now increased enormously. Nearly Rs. 268 crore has been spent on this project so far. This is in addition to around Rs. 65 crore spent on the conversion of the existing line.

The increase in cost is attributed to the inordinate delay in execution. Residents of Kottur and members of the Kottur Nagarika Horata Samiti, who had staged a protest demanding early completion of the work and introduction of train services, blame the elected representatives for not taking up the matter with the Union Government. Shridhar Shetty, secretary of the samiti, told The Hindu that he was constantly in touch with the railway authorities and they had promised to complete the work quickly.

“Work on the track has been completed. Although preliminary work on the installation of signals between Harihar and Kottur has been completed, work on installing signals beyond Kottur up to Hospet is yet to be taken up,” he said.

The Union Minister of State for Railways and other authorities are being urged to speed up the work and complete the project at the earliest,” he said.

It is a decade since work on the Harihar-Kottur railway line was started. Yet, starting rail services seems to be a distant dream on this key 68-km stretch.

The railway line, work on which started in 2001-02, should have been operationalised in 2009. Hurdles created by farmers who are seeking more compensation for the land acquired from them has delayed the project. Though work on much of the stretch has been completed, delay in completing a small part of the line has been a cause for concern.

As much as 930 acres has been acquired from the farmers for the Rs 380-crore project. An amount of Rs 19 crore has been provided as compensation to the farmers so far.
The compensation amount matches the current market rates displayed in the sub-registrar’s office.

However, farmers in six villages of Harihar taluk have approached the court for more compensation. These farmers have been awarded Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 per acre of land acquired. However, farmers between Doddabathi-Kodihalli and Amaravati-Doggalli have been given Rs 6.75 lakh to Rs 7.5 lakh per acre under the ‘concern award’, for land acquired for a railway goodshed.

This has led other farmers to demand that they too should be provided compensation as per the ‘concern award’ and are creating hurdles for the completion of the project.

The erstwhile deputy commissioner, K Amaranarayana, had written to the government 18 months ago, suggesting that all court cases be resolved through Lok Adalat. With this being a unique case, the State government could not decide immediately.

The State government asked the Railway officials to give an approval letter in this regard. This being a unique case to the Railway department also, steps would be taken after consulting legal experts, Railway sources said.

According to farmer leaders, the farmers had displayed rates lesser than the market rates of their land in the sub-registrar’s office.

Hence, if the government provides compensation based on that, it would be a loss for them. It is in this light that the farmers have approached the court. Rates under ‘concern award’ can be provided only to those farmers in the urban areas, based on the expert committee report. Compensation is provided to land acquired in rural areas under the ‘general award’, the sources said.

When the railway line is completed, trains going to Hospet need not travel via Hubli. This line will reduce the distance to Hyderabad and important cities of North India.

Besides facilitating movement of goods trains, it will also boost trade in the region. With work progressing on the railway line, land rates in Telgi and other places of Harapanahalli taluk also shot up. Non-cooperation of the farmers is delaying the project, said a railway official on condition of anonymity.

M S K Shastry, president of the South Western Railway Users’ Grievances Redressal Welfare Association, said engine trial had already been conducted on the completed portion of the line.

If the Commissioner of Railway Safety gives the nod, the line can be opened for traffic on the Harihar-Kottur stretch by August. But that can happen only if the farmers co-operate, he added.